This morning, broker Peel Hunt said in a note to investors: "Given truly dreadful print advertising trends and a previous commitment to growing digital, this may seem a counter-intuitive strategy by [Trinity Mirror].

"In fact, it is a low-risk exercise, which could prove usefully accretive even on fairly modest volumes."

The broker also suggested that Trinity Mirror "clearly eschewed" the i newspaper, which is being sold by ESI Media to Johnston Press for £24m, "in favour of an organic approach".

Peel Hunt estimated that a 20p newspaper with a circulation of 300,000 could generate Trinity Mirror incremental revenue of £18.7m. It said: "This is not a ‘game changer’, but helpful."

Press Gazette reported in January that the new cut-price title was set to launch in late February/ early March. Reports yesterday suggested it would be published for the first time on Monday 29 February – the day Trinity Mirror's annual results announcement. But one well-placed industry source said newspapers tend to launch on Tuesdays because Monday is generally the weakest day of the week for news.